Have you ever seen a YouTube comments section? Three days after this was posted it probably turned into a debate about evolution mixed in with people typing "nigger" over and over again.
I'm imagining someone with an air horn and video camera, scaring the crap out of kittens; me laughing at it and in the process consigning my soul to Hell.
I think that if his girlfriend would have typically been euthanized in childhood, but he made a special effort to keep her alive and care for her, then we'd all feel that the pranks were more acceptable.